1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a life preserver worn in the ocean, a lake, a river, or a pool, for example.
2. Related Art
Many people drown every summer. What begins as simple swimming or playing in the water can potentially turn into a drowning danger through carelessness. There are many types of cases that result in drowning incidents, but such cases can be broadly separated into two types.
One type is when someone who cannot swim at all ends up in water too deep to stand in and drowns. The other type is when someone who is capable of swimming is overexerted and lacks the energy to continue swimming. Although a bit of a digression, the inventor of the present invention had an experience of nearly drowning due to exhaustion. There is a famous saying that “a drowning man will grasp even a leaf,” and if a drowning man can achieve even a little buoyancy, he can continue breathing and survive. This point is illustrated by the article in FIG. 13A, which describes an actual case of a man being saved by a plastic bottle.
Life jackets and buoyancy bags are conventional examples of life preservers that provide a body with buoyancy. If these life preservers are attached to the body, the head can be kept above water even when the arms and legs cannot move, and even in cases such as those above that can lead to drowning, the drowning victim can be kept breathing until help arrives. In this way, life jackets and buoyancy bags can be likened to seat belts used in automobiles or safety nets used for workers at high locations. Therefore, many incidents of drowning can be avoided and lives can be saved by wearing these two types of life preservers.
When a life jacket and a buoyancy bag are worn, the body can be kept sufficiently above water and the risk of drowning can be eliminated, but the fact is that these life preservers are not often worn in reality. FIG. 13B shows an article relating to this point. The reasons for this are thought to be as follows.
For buoyancy bags:
1) Buoyancy bags are worn by children, and so many adults are too embarrassed to wear buoyancy bags.
2) Buoyancy bags can provide sufficient buoyancy, but sometimes the buoyancy can be so great as to prevent a person from swimming. Even if a person can swim, it is difficult to perform the proper strokes when buoyancy bags are interfering with both arms.
For life jackets:
1) Adults are not usually embarrassed to wear a life jacket, but a life jacket is generally not something that is worn when someone goes swimming.
2) If a life jacket is worn when swimming, the jacket rises up from the body in the same manner as the buoyancy bags, thereby interfering with the swimming.
Even with these problems, it is wise for people who cannot swim or are not strong swimmers to always wear a life preserver on the off chance of there being a water-related accident. However, in reality, there are many instances where people do not wear a life jacket for work or leisure activities, due to the above reasons.
Conventional life jackets are usually thin and flat, and are designed such that air is sent into the life jacket by a compressed gas bottle in an emergency or such that air is generated by a chemical reaction and then sent into the jacket. Both of these designs are expensive and the components or mechanisms for filling the life jacket with air are bulky, and therefore few people end up wearing such life jackets. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H8-104291 discloses an invention that generates a gas via a chemical reaction, but with the configuration described therein, the air within the buoyancy bag is expelled out of the buoyancy bag by the water pressure so the water outside the buoyancy bag does not flow into the buoyancy bag. Accordingly, this buoyancy bag cannot serve as a life preserver. Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. 535-17626, Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. S35-22525, Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. S45-13562, and Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. S63-85493 provide examples of widely known art, but each of these inventions is a life preserver or life preserving apparatus that is separated from the body and worn in addition to a swimsuit or clothing during swimming or work. Therefore, it is necessary to always carry these life preservers, which are impractical to actually use since they are bulky and obstruct work. In the invention of Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. S62-82900, for the same principle as described above, the air sac does not intake water or sea water, and does not cause a chemical reaction. In the invention of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H07-223587, the clothing does not intake water or sea water, and air can leak from the air sac or clothing, resulting in a loss of buoyancy.
In a prior art search performed by the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation, the known art most similar to the present invention was found to be the “buoyancy applying tool” of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-329789, the “life preserving clothing” of Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. H3-8094, and the “clothing” of Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. H1-70814, but the differences between the present invention and these prior art examples are shown in Tables 1 and 2. First, when compared with the “buoyancy applying tool” of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-329789, as shown by the effects of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-329789 shown in Table 1, the purpose of this invention is to store and manage a buoyancy applying tool, and this is completely different from the present invention, which is to help a victim during an emergency by expanding a preserver body in the water. This technology is already used in mattress compression bags, and in expanding preserver bodies when in the air. However, the “buoyancy applying tool” of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-329789 does not expand if the air inlet is opened while in the water. This is because, as a condition for the buoyant material in the preserver body to return to the original shape in the water and expand the preserver body, the water pressure applied to the preserver body must be less than the resilient force of the buoyant material, but the resilient force of a buoyant material that can be returned to the original shape by the pressing force exerted by hand also means that the water pressure compresses the material when in the water to prevent a return to the original shape, and even if the material expands somewhat it does not provide enough buoyancy to float a body. Furthermore, with the configuration described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-329789, if the air supply and exhaust portion 14 shown in the drawings is opened in the water, it is obvious that only water enters in and air cannot be sucked in. In order to intake air while in the water, an air inlet 2a must be extended above the water surface, as in the present invention, or the air inlet 2a must be extended above the water surface by a blow tube 2 of suitable length. Accordingly, the technology of expanding and compressing the “buoyancy applying tool” of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-329789 is used to store and manage the buoyancy applying tool in a compact state in the air. Therefore, combing the “buoyancy applying tool” of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-329789, the “life preserving clothing” of Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. H3-8094, and the “clothing” of Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. H1-70814 would not have the same objective as the present invention, and this combination could not be used to save a life in the water, as the present invention is able to do.
TABLE 1Life Preserver of the PresentDifferencesJP 10-329789InventionObjectiveThe objective of the technologyThe objective of the life preserverdescribed in lines 25 to 43 on pageof the present invention is to save4 of this document is to store anda person who is drowning inmanage a buoyancy applying toolwater. The technology for savingin a compact state. Thethe person in the present inventiontechnology for achieving thisdoes not include using aobjective is the same as the widelycompressed air pump to expandknown “mattress compressionthe life preserver. Therefore, thisbag.” This document recites thetechnology is not widely knownfollowing. “When the buoyantand is not included in JP H10-material is flattened and the air329789.inlet is opened, the preserver bodyis filled with air due to theexpansion of the buoyant materialreturning to an original shape dueto resilient force, therebyachieving buoyancy in thepreserver body” This technologyis the exact same effect as in thewidely known “mattresscompression bag.”TechnicalIn order to store the buoyancyIn order to achieve buoyancy inObjectiveapplying tool in a compact state,the water, the preserver body isthe preserver body is compressedcompressed while in the air andand expanded while in the air.expanded while in the water.(There is absolutely no mention of(There are descriptions ofexpanding the preserver bodyexpanding the preserver body inwhile in the water.)the water and detailed descriptionsand drawings of configurations forexpanding the preserver body inthe water.)WhetherThe configuration and position ofThere is a clear description of theexpansion willthe air inlet/outlet is not shown inwearer extending the air inletactually occur inthe drawings, and there is noabove the water surface and, inthe water (1)description of a configuration forthis state, sucking in air fromsucking in air above the waterabove the water surface. Bysurface. When the buoyancyactually extending the air inletapplying tool is in the water, if theabove the water surface andair inlet/outlet, not shown, issucking in air, the buoyancy of theactually opened in the water, evenpreserver body can be increasedthe air that is originally in thegreatly.preserver bag is expelled and onlya small amount of buoyancy isachieved.WhetherThis document recites, “air flowsIt is clearly stated in theexpansion willinto the preserver body as a resultSpecification and drawings that,actually occur inof the buoyant material returningfor the resilient member disposedthe water (2)to the original shape andin the preserver body, there is aexpanding to contain air.” But incondition that the resilient forceorder for the buoyant material toof the resilient member isexpand in the water, the resilientgreater than the water pressure.force of the buoyant materialSince the life preserver of themust be greater than the waterpresent invention fulfills thispressure. However, there is nocondition, the preserver body candescription of this, and so theactually expand and float in thebuoyancy applying tool cannotwater.expand in the water.When in theWhen the wearer wears theWhen the wearer wears the lifewaterbuoyancy applying tool and enterspreserver of the present inventionthe water, the buoyancy applyingand enters the water, the lifetool is definitely in an expandedpreserver is definitely in a thinstate, which creates a largeand flat state, and does not createamount of buoyancy in the water.a large amount of buoyancy.Operation by theThe wearer can perform theThe wearer performs the operationweareroperation of opening the airof opening the inlet only during aninlet/outlet while in the air manyemergency, and this operation istimes.usually performed only once.
TABLE 2JP H3-8094Life Preserver of theDifferencesJP H1-70814Present InventionInlet andBoth documents describe aIn the presentoutletconfiguration in which the wearerinvention, the air canstructuresblows air into a tube, and airbe sucked incannot be sucked in automatically.automatically.PositionBoth documents describe aIn the present,of theconfiguration in which the inlet isinvention the air inletoutletdisposed near the neck, such thatcan be extended abovethe head can be inclined to reachthe surface of thethe inlet. At this position, the inletwater when the weareris under the water when theis in danger ofwearer needs buoyancy, and thedrowning.inlet is not positioned above thewater when the wearer is in dangerof drowning.